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The Black Seal
"The Black Seal" is the final of six episodes of the first series of The Black Adder. Plot On Saint Juniper's Day, 29 January 1498, King Richard IV snubs Prince Edmund, taking away his Duchy and Scottish lands while awarding his brother Harry with several important titles. Finally reaching his breaking point, Edmund declares that he will take over the kingdom. He fires Percy and Baldrick, and begins his quest for glory, aided by a retired Morris dancer. In a parody of the opening of the film The Magnificent Seven, Edmund sets forth into England in search of the six other "Most Evil Men in the Kingdom,": *Sir Wilfred Death (John Hallam), a skilled duellist. *Three-Fingered Pete (Roger Sloman), an archer. *Guy de Glastonbury (Patrick Malahide), a highwayman. *Sean the Irish Bastard (Ron Cook), a daggerman who preys on beggars. *Friar Bellows (Paul Brooke), who uses his position to deflower peasant girls. *Jack Large (Big Mick), a dwarf, described as "Unspeakably Violent Jack, the bull-buggering Priest-killer of no fixed abode." Edmund plans to ride home and then send for them all through a black-haired messenger. They are to gather in the tavern of the recently deceased old Jasper (slain by Friar Bellows), before heading out to seize the royal courts and thus the kingdom. After his comrades disperse, Edmund's plan hits a severe setback. The Morris Dancer casts off his disguise to reveal himself as Edmund's childhood rival, Philip of Burgundy, nicknamed "The Hawk" (Patrick Allen). Philip has just arrived in England after 15 years of exile in France, an exile for which Edmund was apparently responsible. As revenge, Philip locks Edmund in a prison cell, to be devoured by snails. There is another inmate in the cell, Mad Gerald (Rik Mayall), who has been incarcerated for 20 years and whose best friend is a rat. After 12 months of rambling insanely to a bored Edmund, in late December Gerald shows the Prince a key he had made from his own teeth. Edmund seizes the key, successfully opens the cell door and escapes. Gerald opts not to follow him, instead complaining that Edmund had not closed the door behind him. The first person Edmund meets after escaping from prison is a man seeking to sell five black homing pigeons and one black homing chicken. While the seller's initial asking price is six shillings, he generously invites Edmund to beat him up, tie him to a tree and steal the pigeons, an offer the Prince gratefully accepts. Edmund promptly sends the pigeons to fly to his fellow conspirators. Philip of Burgundy, however, beats the gang to the royal castle, and, when they arrive, promptly persuades them to abandon Edmund and adopt him as their leader. Edmund's protestations that Philip is a twisted, ruthless killer who murdered his own family only increases Philip's standing in their eyes. Philip then forces Edmund into a torture chair, in which he is horribly mutilated. Just then, Percy and Baldrick, disguised as serving wenches, serve the conspirators poisoned wine, killing them. As Edmund lies on his deathbed with the entire court mourning over him, his father wakes him up by loudly shouting "EDMUND!" Edmund, surprised that his father had, for the first time, got his name right, mutters "Father, you called me Edmund." Richard answers "Sorry, Edgar" and proposes a toast for his son. Asked by Edmund to call him by his nom de guerre, Richard calls a further toast, to "The Black Dagger". As Percy had unwittingly poisoned the entire batch of wine, the entire royal court dies after drinking the wine. Edmund correctly deduces that the wine was what killed them, but foolishly decides to take a sip to check. Believing the wine is not the killer, as he has not immediately died, he declares himself King of England, only for the wine to kill him moments later. After the credits, Percy and Baldrick run in to stop the court drinking the wine, only to find it is too late. Cast *Rowan Atkinson as Prince Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh ("The Black Adder") (not for very long, though, as he lost his Duchy early in the episode) *Patrick Allen as Philip, Duke of Burgundy ("The Hawk") *Paul Brooke as Friar Bellows *Big Mick as Jack Large *Roger Sloman as Three-Fingered Pete *Patrick Malahide as Guy de Glastonbury *John Hallam as Sir Wilfred Death *Ron Cook as Sean the Irish Bastard *Tony Robinson as Baldrick, Bachelor of the Parish of Chigwell *Tim McInnerny as Percy, Duke of Northumberland *Brian Blessed as King Richard IV *Elspet Gray as Queen Gertrude of Flanders *Robert East as Harry, Prince of Wales *Rik Mayall as Mad Gerald (credited as "Himself") *John Carlisle as the Murdered Lord *Bert Parnaby as Cain *Roy Evans as Abel *Forbes Collins as the Trusting Father *Des Webb as the Person of Unrestricted Growth *John Barrard as the Retired Morris Dancer *Perry Benson as the Pigeon Vendor *Gareth Milne as the Stuntman﻿ Notes * Edmund's brief ascension to the throne is referred to in the Elizabethan minstrel's song at the end of Head: Category:Episodes Category:The Black Adder episodes Category:Martin Shardlow/Director Category:Richard Curtis/Writer Category:Rowan Atkinson/Writer